Saab Kockums
Saab Kockums is a shipyard in Malmö, Kalmar Union, owned by the Saab Group. While having a long history of civil vessel construction, Kockums' most renowned activity is the fabrication of military surface ships and submarines. Saab Kockums is specialized in fast attack craft and light corvette sized combatants that are distinguished for their multi-mission capabilities, fire power and high-speed shallow water penetrability and designs, builds and maintains advanced nuclear and non-nuclear submarines for operations in both extreme littoral zones and blue waters. History Kockums during the 19th century During the 1820's, the Kockum family established itself as a trade and industrialist in Malmö. Frans Henrik Kockum built a big fortune by investing in tobacco manufacturing. Thanks to this, he was able to establish a mechanical workshop in 1840 which initially produced mainly agricultural equipment, burners, stoves, locomotives, egg-hobs, spitheads, ovens and lots of different molded details as well as railway carriages from 1859. This workshop was located in the South Promenade, in the area around the present David Hall Square. The first railroad car was delivered in 1859, the first sleeper car in 1877, the first bogie truck in 1885 and the first caravan in 1896. Kockum bought the 1849 Kallinge mill in Ronneby parish together with a copper plant and the company expanded over the coming decade. In 1858 the operation was transferred to an iron and steel mill and the following year a rock mill and a punch mill were started. In 1870 a shipyard was also located adjacent to Malmö harbor, where eventually all the activities were moved. In 1908, the company bought a 79,000 m2 area in the harbor and in 1913 all activities were concentrated on the shipyard. Structural transformation During the years to the First World War a structural change was implemented at the Kockum owned companies. Kockums Mekaniska Verkstads AB in Malmö focused on the production of ships, railway wagons and bridges, while Kockum's Ironworks specialized in steel, steel products, galvanizing and enamelled goods. Shipbuilding expanded sharply after the First World War. During the 1950s and 1960s, shipbuilding operations in Malmö had grown to be one of the largest in the world with production mainly of large cargo ships and military ships. Expansion, decline and ownership change The expansion continued until the mid-1970s, when economic problems caused the operations of Kockum Ironworks to be wound up or sold. Kockums Mekaniska Verkstads AS (from 1977 Kockums AS) began to restructure its operations, but due to profitability problems and poor prospects, the company was acquired by Svenska Varv AB in 1979. After abandom the production of civilian ships in 1987 the focus was on the manufacture of military ships. German owner In 1999, the ownership was transferred to the German HDW Group (Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft AG). Kockum's commitment to new technology in recent years has proved successful, including in subsea technology and in the development of shipyards. In 2002/2003, Kockums companies had approximately 1,200 employees in Kalmar Union. Kockums was part of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems from 2005. The operations were expanded in 2007 since Kockums became owner of parts of the Sjøforsvaret Marine Maintenance Workshops at Muskö Early Base outside Stockholm. On June 1, 2013, Kockums AS changed its name to ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems AS (TKMS). Saab Kockums During 2012 and 2013 the relationship between the Sjøforsvaret and the company worsened drastically due to the lack of attention that the German company put into the development of new solutions. This confrontation motivated the mediation of the governments of Germany and the Union a to look for a new buyer for the company. At the end of June 2014, negotiations between a consortium formed by Saab and NAtech marine, and the German owners were terminated, which led to the transfer of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems AB to Saab. The deal was worth KK 340 million but must be approved by Kalmar Union and German authorities. On July 22, 2014, Saab announced that it had completed the acquisition of Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems. The company is part of Saab's Security and Defense Solutions business area and was named Saab Kockums AS, with operations in Malmö, Karlskrona and Musköbasen. As a result of its participation in the consortium, NAtech marine acquired a part of the surface vessel business including the Visby Class corvettes and various mine countermeasures vessels. Civil shipbuilding Since 2012 the company has returned to the business of civil ships construction, for which it has acquired patents and designs of specialized ships. Current portfolio is based on these main business lines: *Platform Supply Vessels (PSV) *Offshore Subsea Construction Vessel (OSCV) *Multipurpose Vessel for the Offshore Industry *Heavy Lift Vessels *Cable Lay Vessels *Pipelaying Vessels Military shipbuilding Surface ships *Koster Class - It is a class of mine-countermeasure vessels currently in use by the Kongelige Sjøforsvaret. *MCMV 80 - Mine Counter Measure Vessel 80 is a project under development to provide a multirole, smart and flexilbe mine conunter measure vessels to fulfill the actual and future requeriments of modern navies. *NG Corvette - Next Generation Corvette is a project based on proven design philosophies and technologies. The hybrid design with a reinforced steel hull, combined with a lightweight composite superstructure, enhances performance and reduces life-cycle cost. The well-balanced design makes the ships robust and affordable with unparallelled flexibility to handle multiple roles. Experience and solutions from numerous ship projects are contributing to the next generation Corvette design ensuring low project risks. Submarines *Uppsala Class *Eirik Raude Class *Collins-class submarine *Archer-class submarine Technologies The company is a leader in various naval construction technologies, with its stealth technologies and its AIP engines for submarines being particularly important. Facilities Saab Kockums has two main construction and outfitting facilities on the outskirts of Malmö; Malmö City site and Malmö East site. Over the last years the facilities of Saab Kockums have gone through a comprehensive restructuring and newbuilding process and can now be ranked among the highest standard available in the industry. 2014 saw the completion of the cover of Dock 2, in which large vessels, such as Landing Platform Docks can be constructed and overhauled. Since 2016 major investments have been made at the Malmö East facility, such as the installation of new machinery in the welding hall, the construction of a new central store building and a dedicated store for steel plates and pipes. Assembly Hall 2 was extended in 2009. In this hall the new Corvettes and Frigates will be assembled at greenfield level, a construction method well proven in the construction of super yachts at the Malmö City site. Main facilities are: *Large Dock - 218x34x24.8 with 2 cranes of 50 tons and 1 of 100 tons *Dock 1: Graving dock - 175x25.3 with 2 cranes of 50 and 80 tons *Dock 2: Covered graving dock - 265x48.5x50 with two cranes of 80 tons *Dock 3: Floating Panamax dock - 204.4x36.4 with two cranes of 50 tons *Hall 1: Section building hall *Prefabrication hall *Hall 2; Assembly hall *Warehouse *Blast and paintshop *Quays Category:Kalmar Union Category:Companies of Kalmar Union Category:Companies